Get Your Bulletin Board Ready

We are more than a week away and it is almost certain that fate will make the inevitable Stanley Cup Playoff first round matchup with the Flyers a certainty. At this point it would be a let down if it didn't happen. Too much fuel has been added to the fire of this hated rivalry. After Sunday's game, and with one regular season matchup remaining between the two squads, the drama is only going to keep being added.

After the melee between the benches and players on the ice, Peter Laviolette wasn't happy with Penguins Head Coach Dan Bylsma putting his fourth line on the ice.

“Those guys hadn’t played in 12 minutes; it was a gutless move by their coach [Dan Bylsma],” Laviolette said. “It’s just gutless.”

Yeah. Putting your fourth line on the ice in the third period is gutless. How about a player cross checking Crosby in the back? Is that not gutless?

To add more fuel to the fire, NBC's Mike Milbury criticized Sidney Crosby for his play and even took a few shots at Sid's concussion symptoms.

Milbury's comments on Crosby: “Little goody two shoes [Crosby] goes into the corner and gives a shot to Schenn. Schenn was late to the party, he should have turned around and drilled him right away, but I guess better late than never,” Milbury said. “So you know, Crosby gets cross-checked, big whoop. He said after he came back from his 35th concussion, ‘I’m not going to do this anymore, I’m not going to get into this scrums, I’m going to stay away from that stuff.’ He couldn’t help himself because there’s a little punk in Crosby. He’s not the perfect gentleman. He’s not the sweet kid you see in interviews with his hat pulled down over his eyes. I’d say screw him, hit him,” he said.

Uh. What? Milbury is employed by the network which basically has a monopoly on proving hockey coverage and he comes out attacking the player who is the face of the league for having concussions, basically telling players to hit him. Real classy. He's still bitter from the early 90s. Milbury didn't stop there either and went on to call out Coach Bylsma.

“I can remember being on such a perch, or at least trying to climb over the boards to get at somebody to make a point. And I thought Dan Bylsma should have taken off his skirt and gone over there,” he said.

Oh yes Mike, a head coach should follow in your footsteps. Not only should he stoop to your level and engage in a physical altercation with the opposing coach, perhaps he should do the same thing with a 12 year old hockey player at his son's next game. Then he should never have a job with the league again and do a hack job with a tv network covering hockey. As a matter of fact he should do all of this while sounding like a complete idiot. Sounds like a good plan to me.

Seriously attacking Sid's concussion is low even for this joke but we should enjoy all of this. It's just going to make the Pens angry and they will respond y playing with an edge that is essential to success in the playoffs.

Scott Hartnell is not afraid of the this Pens team.

“This is a much different building than the Igloo,” Hartnell said. “You were almost scared coming into the Igloo, people were right on you. And how dumpy the place was, it was tough. I think it’s good we have the confidence to play here. We know in our hearts and our heads we can beat these guys.”

Well its time to put the fear back into the minds of the Flyers players.

There are three games left and all three can be statement games. The regular season finale is probably the biggest game of the season. It will set the tone for the series to come and the Pens can get the monkey off their back and finally beat the Flyers at CONSOL.